Flipkart Set to Enter Online Food Delivery With ONDC Partnership
Flipkart is set to launch an ONDC-powered food delivery service, expanding into India's online food ordering market.
SociapaHQ
Flipkart is getting ready to jump into India’s online food delivery market, another move away from its main e-commerce business as it looks to cement its presence in high-frequency consumer services.
The Walmart-owned company will roll out the service in phases over the next few weeks in select urban markets. The offering will be facilitated by the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) initiative that aims to build an interoperable digital commerce ecosystem and promote competition among online marketplaces.
The company will follow a phased roll-out strategy similar to the one adopted for its quick-commerce platform Flipkart Minutes, said Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. The phased approach is intended to help the company fine-tune the customer experience, expand restaurant availability and enhance operational efficiency before rolling out more broadly.
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Food Delivery:
The food delivery service will be made available through a dedicated app, which will operate alongside Flipkart’s current e-commerce platform. It will allow the company to establish a distinct footprint in the food ordering space, while simultaneously leveraging the broader digital ecosystem it has created.
Flipkart has not revealed the branding for the new service or the cities where it will first launch, but the development indicates the company’s desire to expand into categories with higher consumer engagement than traditional online shopping.
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The entry is expected to intensify the competition in India’s food delivery market that is dominated by Zomato and Swiggy. It also comes at a time when newer players are playing with different business models including lower-commission and network-based models for restaurant aggregation and delivery.
Flipkart is likely to leverage the merchant ecosystem of the open network and extend its portfolio of consumer services by partnering with ONDC. The move is part of the company’s larger strategy of expanding customer touchpoints across shopping, quick commerce and now food delivery.
Industry observers believe the launch could further reshape competition in the sector, particularly as companies seek to balance growth, pricing and profitability in one of India's most competitive digital consumer markets.
